Inmates at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Iran have launched a mass hunger strike in protest of executions, with some prisoners sewing their lips shut as a form of extreme protest. According to reports, over 1,000 to 1,500 death row prisoners have participated in the strike, which has now entered its third week. The protest was reportedly triggered by six men facing drug-related charges being placed in solitary confinement ahead of possible execution.
The strike occurs amid a reported surge in executions in Iran, with prisoners protesting both drug-related death sentences and executions linked to anti-government demonstrations. The use of lip-sewing as a protest method represents an escalation in the inmates’ demonstration against capital punishment at the facility.
The prison protest has coincided with public displays of capital punishment in Iran. Reports indicate that two young men were publicly hanged in Isfahan’s Shahid Alikhani Square, with onlookers protesting the executions before Iranian security forces responded with tear gas. These events underscore the broader tensions surrounding Iran’s use of capital punishment and conditions within its prison system.
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